The Satan Bug

A secret U.S. government laboratory conducting germ warfare research suffers an accident, and several scientists die. Investigators first suspect that a pathogen was released inside the facility, but a worse possibility emerges: a highly lethal strain known as the Satan Bug may have been stolen. The virus is capable of destroying all life, and whoever holds it can threaten the government with mass casualties.

The story follows Lee Barrett, a former security chief at the desert laboratory called Station 3, who returns to his old post to help track down the missing virus. The authorities believe the thief must know the facility well, and the hunt eventually points to a man posing as a scientist who demands that biological weapons research be abandoned, backing his ultimatum with a demonstration of the virus's effects and a threat to release it over Los Angeles.

John Sturges directed and produced the film, working from a screenplay by James Clavell and Edward Anhalt based on a novel. It is the eleventh of the eighteen films he directed in chronological order, arriving between The Hallelujah Trail and Hour of the Gun. George Maharis plays Barrett, with Richard Basehart, Anne Francis, Dana Andrews, John Larkin and Richard Bull among the credited cast of twenty-four. Released in March 1965, the film runs 114 minutes and holds a rating of 6.1 on IMDb and 6.1 on TMDB.